Kedah government is committed to realise the Rubber City project in Padang Terap elevate the livelihood of rubber tappers in the state.
State Women Development, Community Welfare, Agriculture and Agro-based and Entrepreneur Development committee chairman Datuk Suraya Yaacob said Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Mukhriz Mahathir recently met a group of potential investors during his work visit in London.
Suraya said the project would a be a catalyst in transforming rubber sector in the state by wooing multi-national companies to manufacture rubber-based products for the international market.
She said the Rubber City project was part of the Kedah Barisan Nasional government long-term plan to improve the livelihood of rubber tappers in the state which were exposed to the commodity’s global price movement.
“This is the state commitment to in helping rubber tappers who are facing hard time due to the fall of rubber commodity’s price, unlike certain quarters who were manipulating the issue for their political gain.
“We should learn from Thailand and Indonesia in managing the rubber price in their country by increasing rubber production and improving the quality of the rubber-based products.
“In order to emulate these countries, we need to lure investors to bring in technologies to the proposed Rubber City,” she said in a press conference after representing Mukhriz to launch the state-level 1Malaysia Family Care charity tour programme at Kampung Asam Jawa here today.
Suraya was asked to comment on the progress of the Rubber City project, one of 132 pledges made by Kedah BN in its manifesto for the 13th general election last year.
The state government is targeting to create 13,000 jobs for Kedahans through the project, the first of its kind in the country.
On April 5, Pakatan Rakyat held ‘Himpunan Derita Rakyat’ rally in Baling, purportedly organised to commemorate Baling protest 40 years ago which took place following the sharp fall of rubber price in the market at that time.
Meanwhile, Mukhriz in the opening speech text, which was read by Suraya, praised the 1Malaysia Family care programme and said it was in line with the government’s aspiration to inculcate the spirit of voluntarism.
The nationwide programme, one of the programmes under the 7th National Blue Ocean Strategy, was launched by Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin on Sunday in Pagoh, Johor.
Read more: Kedah govt committed to make Rubber City project a reality – Latest – New Straits Times http://www.nst.com.my/latest/kedah-govt-committed-to-make-rubber-city-project-a-reality-1.560225#ixzz2yWzDcC5k